


Fall

by hoarfrost_sn



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Fluff, hugs and forgiveness, revelation route but no spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 07:44:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7426177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoarfrost_sn/pseuds/hoarfrost_sn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Fall for me,” he mumbles, arms outstretched to the sky waiting for her to jump right in. He looks up to her with reassurance, that he’s there to catch her as she falls. But the words stumble out more romantic than with assurance.<br/>‘I already have,’ she thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fall

The time of war was a stressful one, especially when you’re the one leading it. Kamui rarely found any time of rest, especially now that they were so close to enemy borders. 

There were war meetings to attend, tactics to come up with, training and making sure that the wellbeing of her crew was alright. Every end of the day had Kamui completely drained, out like a light the second her head hit the pillow.

But despite her all too busy schedule, Kamui appreciated the moments she got to relax despite how crazy everything was happening around her. Like making flower crowns with Elise, cooking dinner with Mozu, or petting Kaden’s fur as a way to de-stress.

Though one of Kamui’s favorite moments was just by being with herself. Being the leader of an army meant having everyone’s attention turned to her almost all the time, so whenever Kamui managed to pull away from the crowds was a blessing.

That particular afternoon she had decided to spend a lazy hour just walking around the fields, away from prying eyes. It wasn’t too long for the need to sit overtook her, as only about an hour ago she had a sparring practice with Silas.

Kamui immediately searched the area for the most comfortable tree to rest at. As a child, she had always loved climbing trees, it was both challenging and relaxing in a way. 

She found an old bark, and proceeded to climb it, her state of being shoeless helping her climb to be an easy one. As she settled on a large branch, she swung her legs back and forth, feeling proud of herself for still having that talent of climbing trees like the good old days.

She remembered before in her late teens, whenever she and her Nohrian siblings would play a game of hide and seek, her go to hide out were the tallest trees. Feeling like a ninja whenever she got Leon to scratch his head or Elise to pout at the inability to find her.

But Marx had always found it quite easy to find her. Maybe her rustling between the leaves was a dead giveaway that ever since he learned about her fondness of hiding on top of trees made him look above him when they played this, still, she was always fascinated by how he always found her.

Marx.

Thinking about him sent a quick arrow to her heart. Learning that they weren’t blood related had her both devastated and delighted. Sad in a way that made her feel a little lost that the blood she carried wasn’t shared with his, and happy that she no longer had to feel guilty for what she felt.

What she felt… it was still a mystery to her. She would feel her heart hammering when he took her hand to kiss it, or felt warm when he was in a close proximity to her. It confused her to no end, the way he made her feel. Though as a young child she’d always seen him as the perfect image of a prince from the fairytale books Camilla read to her as a kid, a true knight and shinning armor. 

Snap out of it! Kamui chastised herself, violently shaking her head in the process. You have no time to be thinking about your own fantasies! This is a time of war, woman! You have an army to feed, people to protect. You shouldn’t be thinking about Marx… Marx…

Kamui woke up with a start, nearly falling off her side as she did. Her lower half suddenly felt incredibly sore, probably from sleeping against the bark in a rigid position. Fumbling on the large branch, she yelped at the feeling of her legs falling asleep, like little sparks of electricity intensely biting on her skin whenever it grazed the tree.

Panicking, thoughts of being unable to get down suddenly raced through the dragon princesses’ head. She started punching her thighs in hopes to wake them up when she suddenly heard her name being called off in the distance, a familiar deep voice somewhere out in the forest. 

“M-Marx?” she mumbled, still a bit half asleep. Only then did she realize that the sun was about to set, colors of violet and orange dancing in the horizon as she looked on. Her bright eyes searched the green beneath her, and her eyes finally locked on the familiar figure wandering below her feet. Her eyes immediately lit up.

“A-ah! Marx!” she called out, a hand gripping the branch above her tightly so she wouldn’t fall.

“Little princess?” inquired Marx, eyes shooting up to find the Princess of Nohr flushed with unruly hair. He had Siegfried ever faithful on his side, with a look of victory as his eyes finally settled upon her on top of the tree. “Aha, there you are! I’ve been looking for you. Just like the good old days, yes?”

“P-please help me? It seems like my, um… legs have fallen asleep,” Kamui mumbled, suddenly embarrassed of her situation. She felt silly for being in such a predicament, and for her earlier thoughts before falling asleep. “And I do not know how to climb down at this state. I fear if I jump down I might sprain an ankle and I am sure that would not be good at a time of war.”

He pondered over that for a second, head still looking up. “Hm, it certainly isn’t. Princess of Nohr, kind at heart and a beast in battle… breaking her ankle for falling off a tree.”  
“Hey!” she chastised, face red. “Don’t make it sound so bad! Plus, I haven’t broken anything yet so… um. Help?”

“Certainly, little princess,” Marx smiled sweetly, to which she responded with a deeper flush of red on her cheeks. No matter how many times she’s heard him call her that and especially now knowing they weren’t in anyway related, it always ended up making her feel special from everyone else. Like that little nickname was hers and only his to use.  
She tried to shake the blush off her face, reverting the conversation and her thoughts back into the task at hand.

“So, what do we do? Get a trampoline? Sakura to wake up my sleepy legs? Have Saizo and Kaze toss me down there or or—“

“Jump.”

She stops. Eyes widening, feeling the blush resurface her face.

“E-excuse me?” She asked, her pointed ears twitching to make sure what she heard was right.

“Jump, little princess. Into my arms,” Marx then stretched out his arms into the air, looking at her with a calm face. Though she noticed the lightest of a blush on his face, but she convinced herself she was just imagining it.

“You want me to jump? You—“ she reasoned, but then he cut her off.

“I will catch you. All you have to do is…” he trailed off, exhaling the words. She could then see him biting his lower lip, to which she realized this was embarrassing for him, too. 

“Fall for me.”

“I… Marx..”

“Building a trampoline is not ideal. It would be a waste to use Sakura’s healing staff just to wake your sleepy legs. And Saizo and Kaze are out on patrol. It is… the only way I see we do this.”

“O-oh..” Blushing crimson, Kamui looked at Marx with eyes as wide as saucers, and he did not break the electricity between them. Her heart was drumming in her chest, and she wonders if she jumps right into his arms if he would hear them, thundering and loud, like how the feelings she’s been trying to hide for so long from him.

“You need not be afraid,” he reassured, stretching wider. “I am here. I will catch you as you fall. I swear it.”

She has to take a double take, because it sounds more romantic than reassuring.

“I am here.”

There are butterflies in her stomach.

“Do not worry.”

Her heart is bursting. 

“Fall for me,” he mumbles.

 _ **“I already have,”**_ she thinks.

And then she jumps.

For a second, it feels like flying. Soaring in the air, like freedom, until gravity has to remind her she needs to keep her feet on the ground and then she’s falling straight down unto the earth. She has her arms outstretched in front of her, eyebrows furrowed, eyes never leaving his because she doesn’t want to miss this moment. Not for a second. There is no fear, because all she wants to do is fall straight into his embrace. And she does.

When she falls into him, their armors collide and it stings her chest that makes him stumble backwards, a loud clash resounding in the air. But it is immediately replaced with warmth, and she almost slithers out of his arms but he tightens his grip around her, cradling her tightly with her numb legs automatically wrapping around his torso like a vine and she is immediately tucked between the space of his jaw and the column of his neck. 

The next thing that hits her is his scent. It is intoxicating, and right now being in his arms, she doesn’t want to let go. Her arms, once outstretched in the air is now wrapped around his neck. He embraces her so tightly like her entire being would dematerialize, like she would vanish. Like how he lost her once, and now he cannot afford to lose her again.

He cannot lose her again.

It feels like a decade before they part, because they need an eternity to bask into each other’s warmth. She cannot remember the last time she’s felt so safe, so at home even if the world around them is at war. She needs this more than anything, and he is there to provide. A glue that makes all her broken pieces come together. A warmth she can call home.

Kamui is the first to pull away, because she feels like if she clings too long she will never let go. The second she puts the barest of space between them she craves the warmth that radiated from him, closeness. But once she did, her eyes opened to see him staring back at her, face flushed and heavy breath. 

Does he hear the thunder in her chest? Does he feel the burn of his touch against her skin? Before she can register the proximity of how close they are, barely inches away from each other.

Just then, something hits her like a cold splash of water to the face. A sense, an urge she’s been pushing away for way too long to ignore. From the time he called her adorable as she twirled in her gala dress, blushing profusely when he gave her a peck on the cheek as a good luck kiss for when she dances on the floor with other foreign royals, something she knew was supposed to be brotherly affection but she had thought otherwise.

From when he held her closely to his chest when she sprained an ankle during practice, immediately taking her to the castle healers by sprinting through the hallways and shoving past anyone on his way. 

From when he finally claimed he will fight beside her, coming to her that evening to apologize for ever calling her a traitor, head low and full of shame though from the very start she had never faulted him.  
All these times, all these little things have brought them to this moment. And for each one, Kamui had one consistent feeling: the strong urge to kiss him.

To feel his chapped lips against her, to feel it against her own. To taste, to savor without the underlying thought of feeling ashamed as she once thought he was her brother. Her own blood.

But knowing the truth, Kamui secretly couldn’t be happier. But how would he react? Would he feel the same? Would he—

“Little Princess?” Marx mumbled, slamming her train of thoughts into a halt. She blinked thrice, and with trembling lips, managed to drawl out a reply.

“Y-Yes?” she asked, lips quivering. How silly, stupid! Of course he wouldn’t feel the same, want the same, because you’ll always just be his little—“

“Thank you,” he says in an exasperated whisper.

“F-For what?” Kamui was suddenly lost, wondering what he was saying.

“For forgiving me,” he whispered once more, this time, burying into the crook of her neck. Unable to look into her eyes, afraid of what she might see in them. “For trusting me, for, f-for—“

She understands. He is silently pleading to be saved, for all his faults and all his demons, and she is the closest body of salvation he will ever have in this life.

“Shhh,” she silenced with a quick peck on the side of his face, just a centimeter away from his lips. Warm and soothing. “Thank you for coming back to me,” she mumbled back, in a secret voice only he will ever hear.

Wrapped in his arms and basking in the warmth that is him, Kamui settles that for now this is enough. Her lips still quivers in craving for his, but comfort is what sates this once thought to be insatiable thirst. 

Because he needs love and reassurance, and she tries to offer as much as herself to provide for the pain of bearing an entire kingdom on his shoulders has inflicted. Of what monster his father tried to turn him into, for the blood on his hands that cannot be wiped away.

Again and again, she kisses the skin of his face, but never his lips. She kisses his creased eyebrows, his wide forehead, his sharp cheekbones, the tip of his nose and all and anything but his lips. For she fears that love will break the comfort, that this love she feels will break them apart. Will tear them apart. But she swears to herself there will be another time for her to proclaim her feelings and take his lips as she desires, but this is not that time.

When they part, the sun has set and darkness has enveloped them. Save for the moonlight that spills over her shoulders and unto his face.

Marx puts her down on wobbly legs though they’ve recovered from its numbness, intimacy still electric between them. For a second, an awkward air suddenly passes them and she is unsure of what to say.

For a second it strikes her. SHE KEPT KISSING MARX FACE, HOW EMBARRASSING--  


Marx takes her hand all too suddenly, small against his own sword roughened one. His face is delicate, the tiniest of smiles playing on his lips. The default furrow of his brows is long gone, and she decides that she likes how she’s able to draw this rare emotion out of him, a secret side she knows he only openly displays for her.

“Shall we return back, little princess?” he asks, amused as he puts her hand on his arm.

She instantly clings to him. “Of course, my prince.”

As they walk through the evening, Kamui decides that there will be another time she will get to voice out her feelings for him, even if their actions have already screamed how much they loved each other. She sends a silent prayer to gods that the stars will be witnesses to their love, and the generous gods answers her prayer another night, when the war quells and it is him who initiates the kiss that captures her lips oh so perfectly.

But for now, neither knows that. For now, walking hand in hand into the night, they’ve never felt more alive. And one thought keeps going through Kamui’s head over and over again: she had completely fallen for Marx, deeply and without a doubt. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it. I'm not much of a writer but I tried /weepss// anything for my otp tho huehue


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